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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

I have the rear door leak issue that seems to be very common with the 5 series BMWs.
I get a water in the rear floor mat area every time it rains.
I was gearing up to pull the rear door panels and reseal them.
Looking over the doors, mainly the bottoms I dont see where the water is meant to drain.
I dont see any drain holes. I thought perhaps there was a hole in the center of the two drain plugs located at the bottom of the door, but no.
So if my leak issue is the door panel needing to be resealed, how is the water to drain from the door?
Any advice on my leak issue would be great!
2003 525i Wagon

Rest assured the required drain holes are there. Pull the door panels and reseal the vapor barriers. When you have them loose, poor in a cup of water into the door and you will now know where the drain holes are.

Rest assured the required drain holes are there. Pull the door panels and reseal the vapor barriers. When you have them loose, poor in a cup of water into the door and you will now know where the drain holes are.

Great link to bmw-planet in your signature... never been there before, LOTS of good information and yes, e39's are complicated but nothing compared to the newer 5-series. I think we have the last DIY BMW, now they are electro this, adaptive that, computerized this, variable that... no fixing them without alot of $$$ and dealer tools. Long live the e39!

i had the leaking issue as well, though i caused it myself when i replaced my window regulator. I ended up buying "3m strip caulk" because the material i had on the door from the factory was not enough for me to get a good seal again, it having been moved around during multiple on-off cycles

The video is VERY helpful! Thanks.
After watching the video it has me thinking. Should I replace my regulators while I have the door panels off.
For all I know they were replaced at sometime in the past. Perhaps thats why I have leaks.
I don't have any issues with my windows. But if the regulators are indeed a design flaw and often need to be replaced should I go ahead and do it before I seal up my doors?

It basically boils down to this. If you think you will spend more than 2h playing around with this, then my suggestion is to d/c battery ground acble to prevent battery drain.

Is there a danger in disconnecting power 100% (both + and -) while you do this? I read you can scramble modules if you dont let them "go to sleep" for 16 minutes or so. Is that BS? I'm planning to de-sulfer my batter while I do it, right now it never gets back to green in the view port always black.

cn90, this was a great help....it took about 40 minutes for the first door and only 20 minutes for the second door. Both vapor barriers were coming off and now resealed....crossing my fingers this will work. Great job....thank you very much. For anyone that is condsidering doing this job, with the help of CN90 it was a easy one.

It basically boils down to this. If you think you will spend more than 2h playing around with this, then my suggestion is to d/c battery ground acble to prevent battery drain.

Why not just open whatever doors you'll need to have open to complete the vapor barrier project & then just hit the wider center light button (up by the rear view mirror, where the overhead interior lights are)? This will turn off all those lights (until you open another door...) & hence, no drain on the battery.